Ireland to double intake of migrants

Ireland will take 520 migrants for resettlement, the Minister for Justice has said. That figure is more than double the original number announced earlier this year.

It follows plans from the European Commission for member states to accommodate 20,000, or 10% of refugees mainly from Syria, most of whom have risked their lives crossing the Mediterranean from north Africa.

Ireland had planned to provide for 220 people over 2015 to 2016 and had been asked to take 272 more, allocated on the basis of the country’s population.